Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Penny
Dalton today announced that NOAA
is strengthening law enforcement agreements with natural resource
organizations across the United States to halt international
poaching and illegal imports of seafood. The announcement follows
recent federal felony convictions of three American seafood dealers
and a Honduran lobster fleet owner from an investigation by NOAA
Fisheries' Office
for Law Enforcement and other federal agencies.

"NOAA is committed to pursue and convict
anyone who markets illegally harvested seafood in the United
States," said Dalton"We must not allow poachers seeking
illegal profits to destroy a valuable renewable resource."

"We are working with Florida's
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to enhance seafood
inspection programs at several key Florida ports of entry. NOAA's
criminal investigators are implementing similar partnerships
throughout the nation to shut down international poaching rings
that attempt to market their stolen seafood products in this
country. Those measures will include close monitoring of species
caught with illegal gear, species caught using techniques that
are detrimental to the environment, and species caught in violation
of the Unites States' and other countries' fishery laws,"
said Dalton.

NOAA Fisheries' Office for Law Enforcement
special agents, supported by agents from the FBI,
Internal Revenue Service, and
officials from the Honduran government, headed an investigation
which led to 101 charges against four people who illegally engaged
in an international seafood poaching scheme that involved millions
of dollars and tons of illegally harvested spiny lobster that
were smuggled into the United States. The Southern Alabama U.S.
Attorney's Office successfully prosecuted the case with the assistance
of the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section of the U.S.
Department of Justice

"The overwhelming evidence against
David Henson McNab revealed that he was the ringleader of a smuggling
operation that adversely impacted the lobster population in the
Caribbean basin. Thirty-one of the felony convictions were against
him," said Dale Jones, Chief of NOAA
Fisheries' Office for Law Enforcement. Also convicted were
three U.S. importers who bought McNab's illegal lobster: Abner
Schoenwetter of Miami; Robert Blandford of Coral Springs, Fla.;
and Diane Huang of Newark, N.J

The convictions include multiple counts
of smuggling, federal wildlife and fisheries violations, conspiracy,
and money laundering and carry maximum penalties of five to 10
years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, or twice the value
of the defendants' gain. The lobster tails had a wholesale value
of more than $4 million. Sentencing is scheduled for March 2,
2001 for Blandford and Huang, and March 16, 2001 for McNab and
Schoenwetter. The defendants are also required to pay forfeiture
penalties as follows: McNab, $800,000; Blandford, $100,000; and
Schoenwetter, $100,000. McNab operated his business from Roatan
Island, located off the northern coast of HondurasRoatan Island
and the surrounding waters of the Caribbean were the hunting
ground for McNab's fleet of vessels, each of which can deploy
thousands of lobster traps.

The investigation demonstrates that poaching
can adversely affect the lives of hundreds of fishermen and have
a profoundly detrimental impact on the environmentMcNab evidenced
no concern for the lobster resource or for fishermenFor example:

The wealth from McNab's vast harvest was
denied to the common citizens of HondurasMcNab paid the harvesters
10 cents per pound of lobster, which subsequently wholesaled
in the United States for $10 to $18 per pound.

McNab's workers harvested spiny lobster
that were under the legal size limits set by Honduras and the
United StatesNOAA investigators and federal prosecutors, in cooperation
with Honduran authorities, proved that Blandford, Schoenwetter,
Huang, and their seafood corporations were conspiring to sell
hundreds of thousands of pounds of undersized lobster tails.

McNab's employees illegally harvested
thousands of pounds of egg-bearing female lobsters, an activity
they tried to conceal by clipping off parts of the animals' tails
to which eggs were attachedScientists who study spiny lobster
populations have long recognized that the offspring of lobster
populations off the Western Caribbean coast, including Honduras,
are critical sources for replenishing the lobster stocks in the
Southeastern United States.

NOAA Fisheries urges citizens to report
fishery violations during weekly business hours of 8:00 a.m.
- 4:30 p.m. Eastern, to its Southeast
Region Law Enforcement Division at (727) 570-5344, or after
hours and weekends at its National Enforcement Hotline at (800)
853-1964.

This and other Southeast Regional news
releases and fishery bulletins are available on the region's
Internet home page: http://caldera.sero.nmfs.gov.

NOAA Fisheries is an agency of the Department of Commerce's National
Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationThe agency conducts scientific
research and provides services and products to support fisheries
management, fisheries development, trade, and industry assistance,
enforcement, and protected species and habitat conservation programs.